


In Sickness and in Health

by opalmatrix



Category: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: Bodily Fluids, Families of Choice, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Loyalty, Multi, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: This may be the toughest job Ben has ever had, but he won't let anyone else do it for him.





	In Sickness and in Health

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sholio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/gifts).



The crowd in the main mess hall was somber and uncharacteristically quiet. All eyes were focused on _Norways_ 's chief medic, Dr. Sena, at the front of the room.

"This is a new form of influenza, one of humanity's older fellow travelers. Back on Earth, the challenge each year has always been at guessing which of the disease's current strains would be the most prevalent, and concocting vaccines accordingly. We have only a small population on the ship who can benefit from vaccines; they are all isolated in the marine barracks, and they have already received their shots. Their next assignments will depend on their immune response in the next few days.

"Most of our shipmates have already developed the disease. The most fortunate were able to receive antiviral medication as they developed the first symptoms, because by then we knew what we had. They should recover quickly and be able to join you.

"The rest are, as you all know, quite ill. With proper care, they should recover, but potentially lethal secondary conditions cannot be ruled out. You are all here because you have volunteered to assist. Shortly we will be asking you individually about your preferences in assignments. If at all possible, you will fill the role of nurses and orderlies to your comrades in their quarters, because we in no way have sufficient ward space for so many patients. For those who have valid reasons not to do this, we do have some other roles: clerical support to the trained medical staff, galley delivery to quarters, and so on.

"Questions?"

Bridget Jee jumped to her feet. "What happened to the scuts who didn't volunteer?"

Commander Graff stepped forward to answer. "As you've noticed, this disease makes people generate all kinds of waste. Support Ops has welcomed the assistance of your reluctant colleagues in dealing with their increased workload." Sniggers and catcalls greeted this news.

Ben raised his hand and asked, "Why are they sick and not us?"

Dr. Sena answered. "I can't tell you definitively, Pollard. It varies from case to case. Some of you have better natural immunity to this type of virus, some of you may have already encountered similar forms of illness, perhaps in childhood. In the end, a lot of it may simply be luck of the draw." She looked around the room. "If there are no more questions, line up at the stations we've set up around the room for a quick intake interview and receive your assignments. Of course, my team and I will be available for questions through the usual channels."

Ben lined up at the table where Lt. Egwu was sitting. He was one of the marine medics, plain-talking and level-headed. The interview was mainly questions like 'Do you usually vomit when you smell bodily wastes?" Ben reflected that if that were true, he'd have been out of the rock-jockey business after his first trip with Bird. "So, you think you can take care of your crew?" asked Egwu. "It's going to be tough, with all three of them sick."

Ben shrugged. "Makes no odds if it's tough," he said. "They're _my_ crew."

★   ★   ★   ★   ★   ★ 

By main night the second day, Ben understood why Egwu had been worrying. How could even three people produce that much snotty waste paper?

Sal had tears leaking out of her eyes when he tried to get her to drink some citrus stuff that galley had sent up. "My throat is one big burn, Benjy," she whispered. "I know I look like crap."

Yeah, she did, but he wasn't about to agree out loud. It worried him, seeing her with dull eyes and cracked lips. "Don't worry about that," he said. "Just drink your drink. Things'll hurt less if you stay hydrated, doc said." She got the drink down, and Ben brought her some salve for her lips.

"That mine next?" said Meg. Her throat wasn't as bad, but she'd been having a scary high fever, and she'd said it hurt to move.

"Meds first," he said. Her hands were shaking so bad, he had to put the pills in her mouth for her, and hold the capped water bottle with the straw. She got her drink down with less fuss than Sal, though.

"How's your bedding?" he asked. She'd been soaking her sheets whenever the fever went down. Laundry was running all the time from people with the same problem. Thank God they were at dock: Pell had sent extra skimmers to make sure they had plenty of water in the systems.

"Good for now," she said. "I just want to pass out, Benjy cher, and not feel this."

"Lay back, let me get you situated." He rearranged her quilt, made sure she had disposable snot wipes to hand, then gathered the ones she'd already dropped into a disposal bag.

"Benjy?"

"Yeah, Sal?"

"I need the head."

"On it." He turned around and helped her out of her bunk, then watched her stagger to the tiny bath. She didn't like to be helped unless she absolutely needed it, but he didn't want to have to pick her up off the floor, either.

"How's Dek?"

Meg had her arm crooked over her eyes, so it was hard to read her expression. He turned the room lights down another notch. He knew she could hear Dekker's coughing: it was the soundtrack of their lives right now.

"Sena says the sound scan was OK. He's managing to keep the goop out of his actual lungs."

"He sounds like crap," she muttered.

_All three of you do,_ he thought. "You get some sleep," he said, instead.

"Benjy?" said Sal, from the can. "I can't get up."

Oh, shit, poor Sal. He got her out of there, tucked her into her bunk, then turned the lights to minimum and left them.

Dek was by himself in his and Meg's room, in an attempt to let everyone else get some sleep. He'd come down with the influenza first, and Egwu said he was actually doing as well as anyone could expect, but he sounded awful. His skinny little body was all sweaty skin and protruding bones, and when he coughed, he sounded like he was going to blow apart any second now. At least he'd stopped being feverish. "Time for the yellow pills, Moonbeam."

"Way past time, way I feel," he panted, once he stopped hacking. Ben gave him the pills and retrieved the water bottle.

"Drink all of it," he warned. "Egwu says this stuff'll burn up your food pipe but good."

Dek just gasped after air and then chugged it. He was propped in his bunk with some cushions from the little sofa in their common space, his reader half-buried under his covers.

"Did you make the next level in _Planet Buster_?" asked Ben, pulling the covers off the dishes on Dek's supper tray.

"No, still too shaky," said Dek. "I was listening to a story. That…actually smells good."

"Pell's finest, from what Wenyan said. We're going to owe them a bundle when all this is through."

He helped hold the tray steady, so that Dek didn't spill everything when he started another coughing fit. Scut actually got all of it down without incident: soup with all kinds of vegetables, noodles, and brownish bits in it (meat, maybe: Ben's had had tofu), a nice roll, pudding with fruit. But when Ben was squaring everything away for the recycling pickup, Dek went off again.

They were both worried about him losing the food he'd just put away: it had happened before. Ben got Dek upright and held him against one shoulder, arms around him. If anyone had told him, thirty years ago, that he'd be hugging Captain Moonbeam someday, he'd have busted them wide open.

The racking cough eased. Ben got a cold cloth and let Dek mop off his face and neck to help with the lingering nausea, the way Egwu had said. "You gonna sleep now?" Ben asked.

"Maybe when the story's over," Dek said. Ben got him settled so he could fall asleep more or less upright.

He went out into the common room and bundled all the waste into the corridor outside, for pickup. The girls were quiet in their room. He lay down on the mat he'd set up on the floor and closed his eyes.

And that was just the last hour of the day.


End file.
